Friends, family remember Morgan Johnson at prayer vigil Monday

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Friends of a once missing teen came together for a candle light vigil in his hometown of Terre Haute Monday.

They shared their memories and said their final goodbyes days after Morgan Johnson’s car was found in a retention pond in Plainfield. Dental records confirmed the remains found inside were that of Johnson.

“[There’s] 100 emotions,” said Gloria Jones, an organizer of the event. “They say you can have a million emotions in a millisecond. I think that’s exactly what it was. You get angry, you get sad, you get relief.”

Johnson was reported missing in May 2011. The 27-year-old was last seen leaving a Plainfield motel without his seizure medication. He was supposed to be heading to his grandfather’s funeral in Washington, D.C.

Johnson’s white 1995 Pontiac Grand Am was found less than a mile from the motel in a small, shallow retention pond on South Perry Road Friday. The Plainfield Police Department enlisted the help of a search and rescue company that brought in a sonar water drone. The device tracked Johnson’s car eight feet in the water.

Those who grew up with the happy-go-lucky-guy said it’s still hard knowing he’s gone.

“I love him to death,” said Marcus Williams, Johnson’s best friend. “He was a guy who cared so much about life, about people and about music.”

Johnson’s cause of death is yet to be determined but investigators believe it may have been an accident.